ELT News

Published: 25 Nov 2018

A concrete step towards the ELT: Onsite at Cerro Armazones there has been good progress in escavating the platform for the foundations of the Dome and the Main Structure and in pouring the lean concrete. The outline of the telescope’s main structure is clearly visible. The 55-metre diameter circular pit at the centre will eventually contain the foundation for the telescope structure. To put things into perspective, see how small the various construction vehicles look when compared to the size of the ELT’s foundations.

ELT Instrument update: Work on all ELT instruments is proceeding. HARMONI has almost completed addressing the actions from its Preliminary Design Review (PDR), while MICADO is undergoing PDR at the end of November. METIS and MAORY have planned their PDRs for mid-2019.

ELT IAU Symposium: A “Early Science with the ELTs” symposium was held at the IAU General Assembly in Vienna last August. This was very successful, with a diverse programme spanning all key science cases of the ELTs (ELT, GMT, TMT) and was received very positively by the large international audience - with more than 500 people registered for the sessions across the 5 days. More details can be found via the symposium website and workshop proceedings are in preparation.